Guiding Light Weekly Blog

Bill and Lizzie's wedding was the focus early in the week. Since they didn't seem to be planning much of anything, their relatives decided to dive in and take over. They pounced on them while they were still in bed and scarcely dressed, stuffed them with cake and a slightly drunken Alex painted Lizzie so she wound up looking like Madonna from the 80s. The comic relief part of the show didn't last long, however, and things for the Spauldings began to take a slightly more sinister tone. James and Alan spent a day bonding, playing basketball, chess and drinking. That bit of deja vu soon gave way to one of a different kind.

Phillip flew out to see Ed Bauer in California. He soon discovered that he has a terminal illness, having contracted a lung infection while he was doing his Thoreau thing in the woods. It's a typical soap opera story, which is important, since this obviously has symbolic importance for the show as a whole. Ed gave him about three months to live, which is how long the show has left on the air. So, from now on, I'm expecting there to be little cryptic remarks about what it means for the show to die and everyone channeling their grief at its demise into this story. What this means, more specifically, for Phillip in the arc of his character still isn't clear. But they didn't let things get too gloomy. He bumped in Rick when he was out West and lied about why he was there. They bantered and badgered each other, Rick insisting that they talk about his marriage to Beth. Rick even called Beth and Mel to tell them that he didn't expect them to act as hostess for the barbecue. Beth actually heard Rick on the phone with Mel after he'd called her. The women looked at each other and exclaimed, "What were we thinking?" It was nice. It was also nice to see Ed, Rick and Phillip together again. Even if they were just standing around, not talking about anything terribly specific, you could still feel the weight of their history.

Adding to the history, though in a more histrionic way, Reva has been placing a lamp in the window of Cross Creek until Jeffrey gets home. It's a romantic gesture to be sure, but that doesn't make her recent behavior much more enjoyable. Although I've never been a fan of the character, seeing her in her current needy and whiny incarnation is just plain painful, and in all the wrong ways. Her pregnancy eliminated most of what made her relationship with Jeffrey fun, although it did pave the way for Josh and Jeffrey's strange relationship. I think it's that relationship that I'll miss the most now that Jeffrey has run off to Bosnia. Josh's realtionships with men are always more interesting and complicated than those he has with women, which often seem more like substance abuse problems than anything else.

Meanwhile, another awkward relationship continued. Cyrus and Remy got desperate as they searched for the jewels. So desperate that they dug around in a toilet before leaping into sewage to find the diamonds that Remy had flushed away. They double crossed Natasha, got her arrested and Cyrus pocketed some of the stones. Mostly it was an excuse for some toilet humor, a lengthy sequence featuring Cyrus and Remy in their underwear and another stab at one of those Mexican showdown sequences they try about twice a year (the last one featured Mallet telling Marina how much he loved her).

Things were a little less straightforward when it came to Otalia. Natalia started her new job with Blake, who quickly figured out that Nat and Olivia were a lot more than friends. She wanted to throw them a coming out party but Nat wasn't cool with that. Blake promised to keep her mouth shut about their secret. Meanwhile, Olivia tried to fill her daughter in. That plan fell apart after Emma told her that she doesn't want to be different from the other kids. After failing to do it alone, the couple have decided to tell her together, right before they attend the Bauer barbecue as a couple. That might be difficult since Nat's nausea is a sign that Frank's fertilized her. The couple's entire week was about a kind of stuttering, something which their relationship has been about for months. They plan, they back out, something intervenes and they react. It's repeated. It's stuttered. But they may finally make their way out of it this week, or, at least, push it in a new direction.

Anyway, those were my thoughts about last week. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below and remember that this is all in fun.